A few people from Kingston Cycling Campaign and Merton Cycling Campaign met on the New Malden to Raynes Park Cycleway this afternoon (socially distanced of course) to celebrate its first Birthday which is due tomorrow, 13 July 2020.
The New Malden to Raynes Park Cycleway (also referred to as ‘Cycleway 31’) has transformed cycling and walking between the two locations since it opened. It opened up previously underused Thames Water land allowing people to cycle and walk between the two locations in a safe environment for the first time. After our successful campaign, the Cycleway was built with separate walking and cycling paths (instead of a single shared path) reducing conflict for people using the route too.
This afternoon we counted over 130 people on bikes in just an hour using the Cycleway with over a third of these being children either cycling with family or friends. There were a similar number of people walking too. This level of usage clearly demonstrates the desire for safe cycle and walking routes.
It doesn’t seem a year since Will Norman (London’s Walking and Cycling Commisioner) formally opened the Cycleway (and what a year it’s been since…) but we are delighted that this new link is being heavily used by the community just one year after opening.
We expect that this Cycleway would be even more popular if it connected to safe cycle infrastructure at both its ends. We therefore will continue to campaign for the construction of the Kingston to New Malden Cycleway along Cambridge and Kingston Roads.
The proposed Kingston to New Malden Cycleway would pass close to the beginning of the New Malden to Raynes Park Cycleway providing a safer link onto it. The Kingston to New Malden Cycleway was approved by Kingston Council earlier this year but currently does not have any source of funding to start construction. In the meantime, people will continue to be put off cycling on these busy and dangerous roads.
Kingston Cycling Campaign 